The CEMIS-MESI project intersects themes of circular economy, energy efficiency, material efficiency, and carbon sequestration. Its goal is to improve the operating conditions of the process industry—particularly in the forestry and bio-circular economy sectors—in the Kainuu region and to enable new investments.
The project is strongly driven by business needs and focuses on the processing and measurement of side streams and functional ingredients from mechanical and chemical forest industries, food industry, mining industry, and the circular economy sector. The aim is to facilitate the further refinement of raw materials into new products, enhance the use of materials and energy, and reduce waste and rejects generated in processes.
The development targets include principles, methods, equipment, and digitalization. The project investigates, develops, researches, and pilots concepts that are significant from the perspective of Kainuu.
The key objectives of the project are to:
- develop new technological solutions,
- enable the development of industrial sectors in Kainuu,
- strengthen collaboration among regional actors,
- accelerate RDI (Research, Development, and Innovation) processes between companies and research institutions, and
- build stronger international partnerships.
The project utilizes existing international networks related to the theme and develops regional operating models to serve the needs of companies. It explores, develops, and pilots new technologies for the process industry in collaboration to solve generic challenges and applies new alternative technologies.
The project activities are divided into the following work packages:
- material efficiency and quality,
- energy efficiency and safety,
- environmental sustainability,
- green transition, and
- communication.
The work packages are led by CEMIS member organizations operating in Kajaani: the Measurement Technology Unit of the University of Oulu, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, and Kajaani University of Applied Sciences.
The project results can be utilized in:
- the utilization, quality improvement, and consistency measurement of main and side streams in forestry,
- real-time monitoring of food composition and detection of foreign substances in processes.
